Country legend Willie Nelson took time to speak with the Reno Gazette-Journal Thursday afternoon ahead of his shows this weekend in Reno. Nelson performs at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday night at the Silver Legacy. Tickets cost $65 and $80. Details at www.silverlegacy.com.

Nelson, 78, spoke by phone from Oakland, where he was scheduled to perform Thursday night. The wide-ranging Q&A, in which he talks about writing the Patsy Cline hit “Crazy,” the condition of his beloved guitar, Trigger, and his unlikely friendship with rapper Snoop Dogg, follows.

Q: Does a show linger in your mind after its over or do you move on from it pretty quickly?A: Well, it does if I screw something up. That will linger a little longer. Normally after the show we look at each other and say, ‘That went pretty good.’ If it’s good we are proud of ourselves. If it’s not, we say, ‘We’ll do better tomorrow.’ “

Q: On a live album you’re releasing at the end of March, you work with Norah Jones and Wynton Marsalis doing the songs of Ray Charles. How did that come about? A: There’s not a bigger Ray Charles fan in the world than me and Norah and Wynton, so it was a pretty easy choice for all of us. I love Norah and I love singing with her and Wynton’s the greatest, so it was a no-brainer for me. I was very glad to get involved.

Q: Are you still blown away by the reception you got in 1973 on your album “Shotgun Willie?” A: Yeah. Most of it was positive. It was a different direction, but it was a lot of fun working with Jerry Wexler and those guys.

Q: Your next album, “Heroes” is coming out in May. You collaborate with Snoop Dogg and Kris Kristofferson on the track “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.” Tell me about that.A: We were going to name the album that title, but we decided there might be a couple more conservative outlets out there that wouldn’t appreciate it. We started thinking about and decided maybe we’ll just call it “Heroes” so there’s no confusion.

(Page 2 of 4)

Q: How do you get involved with Snoop Dogg? A: He and I are old buddies and we’ve played shows together over the years. I’m going to do something with him again in April. Not sure what it is. I think he wants me to sing on something. We’ve been hanging out together for many years.

Q: You also work with your son, Lukas, on this album. Is he carrying on the family tradition pretty well? A: He’s doing pretty good. I saw a baby picture of him just yesterday when me and my wife were going through an album and there was a baby picture of Luke about one year old sittin’ on the floor and he had my boots on. She said, “there’s something special about that,” and I said, “yeah, there is.” So he’s been coming along pretty good and I’m really proud of him.

Q: Is he on the tour with you right now? A: He’s been on the last few shows with us. I don’t think he’ll be in Reno, but I don’t know for sure.

Q: You’ve spent time playing out here in Nevada and the west over the years. What is it about this place that you find inspiring?A: It’s beautiful. I’ve spent a lot of time especially in the pacific northwest when I lived in Portland and Vancouver for many years. I was in radio up there for a long time.

Q: You’ve made 67 albums, 30 movies...is there anything still on your bucket list? A: (Willie laughs) One of these days, Barbara Streissand and I are going to do a song together. We haven’t run across the right song yet.

Q: In 1972, you retired from music. If you hadn’t later made a comeback, what do you think you would have done? A: Bank robbing, probably (laughs). It’s hard to say. I’m a lazy guy. I’ve tried getting up in the morning and punching a clock like a lot of great people do every day, but it just wasn’t for me. I’m a night guy. It’s a good thing I have something to do at night.

Q: Is there one song you think you’ve played more than the rest? A: Well, going back through the years, it’s probably a Hank Williams song. I do a few songs by Hank every night. “Move It on Over,” “Jambalaya” and “Hey, Good Lookin’.” I’ve been doing those songs ever since I’ve been playing music.

(Page 3 of 4)

Q: How’s your guitar, Trigger, holding up?A: Trigger’s doing good. I’ve had to go inside and reinforce some spots in the wood a couple of times, but other than that, Trigger’s holding up pretty good. He’s still barking pretty good.

Q: Tell me about the signatures on Trigger. A: Well, that all started with Leon Russell. I was playing a show with Leon and he had his guitar there. He said, “hey, write your name on my guitar,” and I said, “OK,” and I started writing it on there with a Marks-A-Lot and he said, “No, no, I want you to scratch it on there with this ballpoint pen,” and I said, “why in the hell would you want me to do that? It’ll ruin it.” He said, “no, it’ll make it more valuable.” So, I said, “in that case, write your name on mine.” And so that’s how it all started.

Q: People have suggested one day Trigger ought to end up in the Smithsonian. A: Well, you know. Maybe one day. But I’m not through with him yet.

Q: You wrote the song “Crazy” in 1961. There’s a story that goes, Patsy Cline had been trying to record the song for a while but was having trouble getting it right until she came to ask how you’d sing it. Is there any truth to that or is it an urban legend? A: Her husband, Charlie Dick, and I were good buddies and we ran into each other at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge in Nashville, having a couple of beers. I had just come from Texas and I had recorded “Night Life” and “Crazy” and had it on a 45 on the jukebox trying to get some attention drawn to it in Nashville and Tootsie let me put it on her jukebox. Then Charlie heard “Crazy” and said, “that is a fantastic song. Patsy would love to do that, I’ll bet.” And I said, “I’d love for her to do it.” He said, “let’s go play it for her.” This was like 12:30 at night. So we went over to her house and had a couple of beers. I didn’t get out of the car. Charlie went in and Patsy came out and made me get out of the car. I went in and I sang it for her and she recorded it the next week. She was having a little problem recording it, but she was actually trying to phrase it a little bit like me and I told her, you need to do it more like Patsy and put your own brand on it, and she did. It took her two or three days of steady recording but she finally nailed it.

(Page 4 of 4)

Q: And you continue to perform “Crazy”A: Sure. I play it every night along with “Night Life” and “Funny How Time Slips Away.”

Q: I know people who don’t listen to a lick of country music, but they’ll listen to you and will come to your show. What is it about what you do that appeals to such a broad audience? A: I like to think that it’s because our music is so spread out and we cover a lot of territory. My sister and I were raised up playing in church, so we have a little gospel feel to a lot of the things we do. And then we do songs by Django Reinhardt, my favorite guitar player, and that’s a pretty good stretch to go from “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” to “Nuages” or some other Django stuff. I like the blues, I like jazz and all kinds of music. I think it comes out in our band that we all play different things so that you don’t really have to be a fan of one thing and not anything else. I think most of our audience likes to hear all those different things.

Q: Anything good coming out of Nashville that you’d speak highly of? A: Jamey Johnson is great. There’s a lot of good talent up there. I love Connie Smith. I go all the way back to the early country stuff and still love it a lot. I have a radio station out of there called “Willie’s Roadhouse” on XM/Sirius Radio and we carry the Grand Ole Opry on Friday nights so I’m glad to be able to present that music to everybody out there who still love to listen to Little Jimmie Dickens and Connie Smith.

Q: Any other projects coming up? A: Sister Bobbie and I have just finished a new CD of just her and I together. We’ll be coming with that sometime around Christmas time. We did songs I have written over the years like “December Day,” “Will You Remember Mine?” “Summer of Roses” “My Own Peculiar Way.” We were just listening to it last night.

Q: Your sister Bobbie is still playing with your band regularly? A: She is.

Q: So between her and Lukas, you get a whole family affair going when you’re onstage. A: When Lukas is there, my other son Micah and my sister Bobbie, yeah, it’s great to have us all onstage at one time.

Q: That must be nice when you’re out in the middle of nowhere to have family with you. A: It’s as good as it gets.